Origen, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, Part II, Complete

Translated by Allan Menzies.

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This Part: 132 Pages

Page 17

8. John is a Prophet, But Not the Prophet.

"Art thou that prophet? And he answered No." [4857] If the law and the prophets were until John, [4858] what can we say that John was but a prophet? His father Zacharias, indeed, says, filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesying, [4859] "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the Lord to prepare His ways." (One might indeed get past this passage by laying stress on the word called: he is to be called, he is not said to be, a prophet.) And still more weighty is it that the Saviour said to those who considered John to be a prophet, [4860] "But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet." The words, Yea, I say unto you, manifestly affirm that John is a prophet, and that is nowhere denied afterwards. If, then, he is said by the Saviour to be not only a prophet but "more than a prophet," how is it that when the priests and levites come and ask him, "Art thou the Prophet?" he answers No! On this we must remark that it is not the same thing to say, "Art thou the Prophet?" and "Art thou a prophet?" The distinction between the two expressions has already been observed, when we asked what was the difference between the God and God, and between the Logos and Logos. [4861]

[4857] John i. 21.

[4858] Luke xvi. 16.

[4859] Luke i. 76.

[4860] Matt. xi. 9.

[4861] P. 321.

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